Happening's

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Blogs blogs, whose got the blogs? And the answer is, everyone. Not only shall we have our 15 minutes of fame, we'll have it on video on My Space and You Tube...And not only that, every newspaper has Forums and the editorials are linked to letters and opinion has become "hot."

And what do we get? Mostly trash.

And I am not just talking about "Bush lied and soldiers died." I am talking about comments that are just so wrong that it boggles the mind to read them. People talk about the flooding of New Orleans during Katrnia without even knowing that the city is below sea level which meant that the breeches had to be fixed and then the water pumped out. Which made the task much more difficult than just letting the water run back into the river which is the usual way of flood recovery.

They claim that there was a conspiracy on 9/11 and that the steel building frames could not have failed when any number of experts have shown that to be wrong.

They buy into man made global warming when the weather sweetie can't forecast what will happen 72 hours out, and no one can explain why the Medieval Warming period exists since they had no cars....

In short, it appears that although we have more information available in the history of the world, the people who could use it have very little ability to separate facts from fiction and without that they become easy prey for the media, who in turn are easy prey because most of them have little training in science and logical thinking.

For an example, I remind you of the NYTimes article written by Joe Wilson when he made huge brough haha over Bush's statement that the British claimed that Iraq had tried to buy yellow cake from Niger in 1999. In fact, Bush was quoting the Brits, so if you want to make a point you have to allude to dark actions and lies. Now this is what Wilson wrote:

I spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people: current government officials, former government officials, people associated with the country's uranium business. It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place.

Okay fine. But what did write? Did he write that no meeting between Iraqi and Niger had taken place? No. He said that it was doubtful that any such "transaction" had ever taken place.

"Transaction" dear hearts refers to a sale. Not an offer, not an attempt, not discussions, but a sale. He further says:

Then, in January, President Bush, citing the British dossier, repeated the charges about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium from Africa.

The next day, I reminded a friend at the State Department of my trip and suggested that if the president had been referring to Niger, then his conclusion was not borne out by the facts as I understood them.

What facts are in doubt? Bush said that there had been an attempt per the Brits. Wilson's article writes that no transaction (sale) took place. So he doesn't deny that a meeting could have tak place, but you have to read what he writes very carefully.

He then says that "his conclusion was not borne out by the facts as I understood them." So he says there was no sale, which was never claimed, and that the Brit's conclusion, which Bush believed, was wrong.

Oh really? Remember he also wrote this?

In early March, I arrived in Washington and promptly provided a detailed briefing to the C.I.A. I later shared my conclusions with the State Department African Affairs Bureau. There was nothing secret or earth-shattering in my report, just as there was nothing secret about my trip.

The CIA's DO gave the former ambassador's information a grade of "good," which means that it added to the IC's body of understanding on the issue....The reports officer said that a "good" grade was merited because the information responded to at least some of the outstanding questions in the Intelligence Community, but did not provide substantial new information. He said he judged that the most important fact in the report was that the Nigerien officials admitted that the Iraqi delegation had traveled there in 1999, and that the Nigerien Prime Minister believed the Iraqis were interested in purchasing uranium, because this provided some confirmation of foreign government service reporting.

Huh? And have you noticed what the title of the New York Times article was?

"What I Didn't Find in Africa"

So what he found was there had been no sale, no purchase. And if he told his buds in the Department of State that Bush's embraceof the Brits information was wrong, why did he tell the CIA that Nigerien officials said the Iraqis came in 1999 and that the Nigerien PM believed wanted to purchase.....That is a huge disconnect.

Did the media just ignore it, or were they just too dumb to figure it out? To return to my initial comments, at one time I thought the media was in the tank for Wilson. I now think that they were in the tank, and because of that, couldn't exercise enough logical thinking to ask some very hard and very important questions.

MIAMI (AP) - A top adviser is leaving Republican John McCain's presidential campaign because he doesn't want to work against Democrat Barack Obama.

Mark McKinnon, the chief media consultant to McCain, wrote in a campaign memo last year that if Obama won the Democratic nomination, he would not actively campaign against him. With the results of Tuesday night's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, Obama claimed he had a majority of convention delegates.

McKinnon said Tuesday evening he was making good on his pledge, and was "moving from middle linebacker to cheerleader" for McCain.

Now wait just a gol darn minute.....

If you think McCain is the best man why do this??

He said last year that he didn't want to work against an Obama candidacy. Electing Obama "would send a great message to the country and the world," McKinnon said at the time, although he added that he intended to vote for McCain.

Now let me see...

"Doctor I think you are the best brain surgeon in the world and that I need surgery...but I'm gonna have John step in because it will send a great message to the country and the world??"

Either cousins of Bugs Bunny or Rocky the Flying Squirrel devoured a number of my just up okra plants yesterday. Given that fried okra is referred to as candy in this house a state of war now exists. The 20 gauge short barrel pump has had No. 6 shot loaded and I am ready to rend shock and awe on the varmints. Seeing as how the failure of global warming delayed spring, the replanting of these will be a rereplanting.

Given that the price of oil hit $130. yesterday, driving the stock market into a $199 drop, veggies from the garden may be more important than we think...

In response our valiant Congress people have passed a law that says we can sue OPEC and speculators.... Send in the clowns....er lawyers...

Supposedly the increase is based on fears of shortages in 2016....I guess any excuse is okay when dealing with the American public who, basically, have proven too stupid to raise hell with Democrats until, fearing for their jobs, the Demos join the Repubs and start to push drilling in ANWAR, offshore and downtown Hartford if we think oil is there.

Also named as a reason was an interview with the well known oilman, T. Boone Pickens, who says we have maxed out and is investing millions in windmill farms. He may be right. He may be wrong. I just wish he didn't have a dog in the fight.

In other news the coronation of Hussein is being planned, yet the polls show him unable to beat McCain, or a best, tie him. That's an amazing factoid when all the problems we currently have are factored in. Any Democrat should be leading by a mile yet he is struggling when away from The Borg.

In other news.... women in the United Kingdom have won the right to have children without fathers... Heck, we have had that right for years. Visit your nearest ghetto.